Baby Jesus

"It's a bit odd and off-puttin' to pray to a baby."

We went to the Church of Panny Marie Vítězné yesterday where there's a miracle-working Baroque statue of the infant Jesus. He has over 100 outfits.

We didn't get much time to admire the Infant Jesus because we were quickly surrounded by a very pious Polish tour group. We had to pick our way around kneeling middle-aged matrons with Eleanor asking what's the big deal was about the statue? Why are people praying to the statue? etc. That's my good Lutheran girl. It's been hard enough explaining the idea of medieval miracles associated with a particular place/statue/bone/relic, but this was worse because Will Farrell kept running through my head.

Look at this: http://www.karmel.at/prag-jesu/english/firsten.htm

Then this. It's Will Farrell, so don't let your kids watch....

Answered non-prayer

This week started out badly. The girls and I were grumpy and we were tired of Prague and not having any friends to play with. David was at a conference all week so we were more or less on our own. But, I figured we were half way through our time here so we'd make it somehow.

But on Tuesday David called with the news that he met an American family with a 6 1/2 year old girl at the conference and would we like to go out to dinner with them? Of course we would! The girls hit it off grandly and we decided to go to the zoo together on Wednesday.

Wednesday was great. The Zoo is fabulous and we really, really enjoyed the company. Our new friends are absolutely lovely. The girls hardly bickered at all because they had "new blood" to entertain them. I really enjoyed talking with another grown up! And the girls got to ride on ponies, which was the icing on the cake.

So, even though we hadn't prayed for this, God gave us just what we needed when we needed it. Pretty cool.

Magnum bars....

Magnum bars and a sunny day make the Mengel girls much happier. We found (very expensive) Fairy books for Eleanor at the Globe bookstore, discovered a new playground on an island in the Vltava, and ate ice cream. Life in Prague is much happier today.

Half way there....

We're half way through our time in Prague. The girls and I had a rough day. It was raining (again) and we couldn't figure out anything we wanted to do, so we stayed home and fought with each other all day. We got a card in the mail today (thank you Lynne!) and that brings the count to a grand total of TWO pieces of mail we've received. For dinner I made what might be the worst goulash ever - the sauce and veggies were fine, but the meat horrible! Despite having been simmered for 2 hours, the meat would have made better shoes than goulash. Maybe there's a reason the Czechs don't eat beef? I think I'll stick to pork from now on.

But, we discovered kids podcasts today. That's a good thing, though it gives the girls another reason to use my computer. But hearing them laugh at a Fetch story was a nice break from the whinging.

Tomorrow we will go do something, rain or shine, even if it is only going to McDonalds. Or maybe a trip to the English used book store to see if we can find chapter books (Eleanor has read all the ones we brought, some multiple times).

Zing - I've posted more pictures. I'm starting a collection of Odd Prague - I imagine I will have things to add to it as I keep looking!

Karlštejn Castle

On Thursday we took Grandma Zona and Lois to Hrad Karlštejn for an excursion outside of Prague. We had a fun time on the train and poking our way up through the little town (which mainly consists of tacky tourist shops and beer gardens).

Karlštejn looks magnificent on the way up, but once you get up to the castle there's not much to do besides wait for your tour (and watch the Polish bride and groom have their picture taken). We had read our guidebook so we knew that to visit the most important and impressive rooms in the castle you have to make reservations in advance, which David did the day before. The girls were so patient during the 100 minute tour. Eleanor got into it and was asking questions - she impressed the other people on the tour with her knowledge of history. Little did they know she comes by it honestly. I told Claire about how Uncle Buddy and I used to look for St. George and the Dragon everywhere we went in Europe, so even Claire managed to entertain herself on the tour. She got a kick out of donning the special slippers over our shoes so we didn't scratch the Renaissance floor tiles.

The highlight of the castle, and dare I say any castle in Europe, is the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It is a truly magnificent room - encrusted in gold leaf and semi-precious stones and decorated with 139 saints painted by Magister Theodoric in the 1360s. The Chapel was closed for over 10 years for reconstruction (including when we lived here before so this was my first visit).

The most exciting time of the visit came when the tour guide was explaining why visitors are limited to 15 people per hour now. She said that previously they let in up to 150 people/hour and the humidity from their breath and bodies contributed to damaging the precious chapel. Now visitors are limited and the scientists monitor the humidity in the room. Claire, with the perfect timing of a 4 year old, chose this moment to whisper in my ear, "I really need to go to the bathroom!" Now, we're at the top of the tower and there are at least 7 locked doors and numerous staircases between us and the WC, so I whispered back to Claire, "It's OK, just try to go a little peepee in your panties." The 100 minute tour had been too long for Claire and she SOAKED her clothing. But, thankfully, she did it very quietly and no one noticed - not the tour guide, not the other visitors, not even Papa or ever-vigilant older sister. It was a secret between me, Claire, and the scientists who were going to check the machines and wonder why there was such a spike in humidity around 5:00 on June 5. Perhaps Gregory the Great and the other saints noticed too.

Královský průvod

Yesterday we pretended to wear burlap and eat rutabagas (still my favorite description of life in the Middle Ages) when we went to the Královský Průvod in Old Town Square. This was the second yearly re-enactment of the procession of the Imperial Crown Jewels and Relics from the Prague Cathedral to Karlstejn Castle (about 30 miles away). The girls enjoyed the festivities. Eleanor especially enjoyed watching all the horses and Claire liked seeing the models of the places we've already been. I'm up for a parade in any form, so I had a whee of a time too. David took videos which will come in handy when teaching about the Middle Ages.